Aruba, November 27, 2014 - It was great while it lasted. In a golden period from 2003 to 2010 Latin America's economies grew at an annual average rate of close to 5%, wages rose and unemployment fell, more than 50m people were lifted out of poverty and the middle class swelled to more than a third of the population.

But now the growth spurt is over. What some worried would be a "new normal" of expansion of 3% a year is turning out to be far worse.

The region's economies will on average grow by only around 1.3% this year. Analysts continue to slash their forecasts, as they have done for the past two years (see chart).

They now expect only the mildest of recoveries next year: both the IMF and the World Bank foresee growth of just 2.2% in 2015.

Latin America is decelerating faster than much of the rest of the emerging world, points out Augusto de la Torre, the bank's chief economist for the region. Alejandro Werner, his counterpart at the IMF, sees growth averaging just 2.7% over the next five years.